Who is actually writing all this

He is the bloke who has failed publicly enough times to have nothing left to protect. He is the bloke who has watched mates fall apart and learned the words that helped some of them get back up. He is, occasionally, the bloke who himself nearly didn’t make it, and who, on a particular Tuesday, was saved by someone asking the right question at the right time. The books exist because that question got asked. The whole series is paying it forward.

The Silverback is Australian. He drinks Coopers. He eats sausages on white bread with no onion. He has driven a Hilux for eleven years and intends to drive it for eleven more. He has been broke, rich, married, divorced, employed, redundant, in love, alone, angry, calm, ridiculous and wise, sometimes all in the same week. He is not a guru. He is not a coach. He is not selling a course. He got tired of watching other blokes struggle in silence with problems that have, in most cases, well-documented solutions. So he wrote them down. Eight books worth.

A note on the research

Every statistic, study and research finding cited in the books is real. Australian government data: the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the Australian Institute of Family Studies, Beyond Blue research, Lifeline annual reports, Fair Work Australia, the eSafety Commissioner and various Royal Commission findings. International peer-reviewed research: the Gottman Institute, the Harvard Negotiation Project, Cialdini on influence, Kahneman on behavioural economics, Goleman on emotional intelligence, Voss on tactical empathy, Frankl on meaning, Putnam on social capital, the Holmes-Rahe stress inventory. And the accumulated experience of the Silverback and his mates, argued about at approximately seven hundred BBQs.

The disclaimer, in plain words

The books are satire wrapped around real research, real data and real lived experience. They are not therapy, financial advice, legal counsel or marriage counselling, and they are not a substitute for a qualified professional, a long walk, a hard hug from your dad, or a phone call to a mate at 2am. Some chapters deal with serious topics. The Silverback voice does not disappear in those chapters; it just shows its other side, the side that sits with you in the dark and says: I’ve been here too. Let me show you the way out.

The publisher

Published independently by The Silverback. Sold by Gorilla Unit Consulting Limited, Sydney, Australia. Questions to support@thesilverbacksguide.com.